On May 30, 12:42*am, "Endulini" <Endul...@Fruit.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> A flat that I've been looking at with a view to purchasing is heated by an
> old hot air blower system. I'm not familiar with these systems but they
> don't strike me as very efficient are they straight forward to replace or
> are there likely to be some lurking issues (I appreciate that it will
> obviously *depend on the actual system but in principle might there be some
> problems)?
>
> Cheers

You havent told us what trype of system this is yet.

If its gas fired ducted hot air, theres no reason to replace, as long
as you dont mind mild background noise when it runs. The boilers to
use in such systems are still being sold new, albeit by only one
company.

If its blower radiators on a water based system, these perform much
the same as ordinary CH, but the rads are much smaller and make a
little noise.

If its fanned storage heating, they're bulky and csot more to run than
gas or oil, and old units may not store enough heat to keep a place
warm all evening. Insulation can solve this, or replacement new
heaters are better at predicting heat needs and storing enough.


NT

On May 30, 9:58*pm, David J <da...@btelecom.invalid> wrote:
> On Mon, 30 May 2011 08:08:50 -0700 (PDT), Tabby <meow2...@care2.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> >On May 30, 12:42*am, "Endulini" <Endul...@Fruit.com> wrote:
> >> Hi All,
>
> >> A flat that I've been looking at with a view to purchasing is heated by an
> >> old hot air blower system. I'm not familiar with these systems but they
> >> don't strike me as very efficient are they straight forward to replaceor
> >> are there likely to be some lurking issues (I appreciate that it will
> >> obviously *depend on the actual system but in principle might there be some
> >> problems)?
>
> >> Cheers
>
> >You havent told us what trype of system this is yet.
>
> >If its gas fired ducted hot air, theres no reason to replace, as long
> >as you dont mind mild background noise when it runs. The boilers to
> >use in such systems are still being sold new, albeit by only one
> >company.
>
> >If its blower radiators on a water based system, these perform much
> >the same as ordinary CH, but the rads are much smaller and make a
> >little noise.
>
> >If its fanned storage heating, they're bulky and csot more to run than
> >gas or oil, and old units may not store enough heat to keep a place
> >warm all evening. Insulation can solve this, or replacement new
> >heaters are better at predicting heat needs and storing enough.
>
> >NT
>
> I bought a new house in 1970 that had a warm air CH system, originally
> oil-fired, from a central distibution storage tank. There was no gas
> in the small town at the time. The downstairs ducts were all under the
> suspended floor. *When town gas was supplied about 10 years later,
> most of my neighbours changed over to gas-fired boilers, and many also
> changed to radiators. I eventually bought a new gas-fired warm air
> boiler and retained the ducts. I found that they were perfectly
> effective - although I realised later that the original design was
> technically flawed.
>
> If you study a/c systems in hotel rooms, you will see both inlet and
> outlet ducts for good circulation. Our builder had installed only
> inlet ducts - assuming that the return air would find a way back via
> gaps around the doors. *Bad design that, just to keep the costs down.
>
> David *

Easily solvable though, with louvre style grills in doors


NT

On May 30, 11:01*pm, Tabby <meow2...@care2.com> wrote:
> On May 30, 9:58*pm, David J <da...@btelecom.invalid> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Mon, 30 May 2011 08:08:50 -0700 (PDT), Tabby <meow2...@care2.com>
> > wrote:
>
> > >On May 30, 12:42*am, "Endulini" <Endul...@Fruit.com> wrote:
> > >> Hi All,
>
> > >> A flat that I've been looking at with a view to purchasing is heatedby an
> > >> old hot air blower system. I'm not familiar with these systems but they
> > >> don't strike me as very efficient are they straight forward to replace or
> > >> are there likely to be some lurking issues (I appreciate that it will
> > >> obviously *depend on the actual system but in principle might there be some
> > >> problems)?
>
> > >> Cheers
>
> > >You havent told us what trype of system this is yet.
>
> > >If its gas fired ducted hot air, theres no reason to replace, as long
> > >as you dont mind mild background noise when it runs. The boilers to
> > >use in such systems are still being sold new, albeit by only one
> > >company.
>
> > >If its blower radiators on a water based system, these perform much
> > >the same as ordinary CH, but the rads are much smaller and make a
> > >little noise.
>
> > >If its fanned storage heating, they're bulky and csot more to run than
> > >gas or oil, and old units may not store enough heat to keep a place
> > >warm all evening. Insulation can solve this, or replacement new
> > >heaters are better at predicting heat needs and storing enough.
>
> > >NT
>
> > I bought a new house in 1970 that had a warm air CH system, originally
> > oil-fired, from a central distibution storage tank. There was no gas
> > in the small town at the time. The downstairs ducts were all under the
> > suspended floor. *When town gas was supplied about 10 years later,
> > most of my neighbours changed over to gas-fired boilers, and many also
> > changed to radiators. I eventually bought a new gas-fired warm air
> > boiler and retained the ducts. I found that they were perfectly
> > effective - although I realised later that the original design was
> > technically flawed.
>
> > If you study a/c systems in hotel rooms, you will see both inlet and
> > outlet ducts for good circulation. Our builder had installed only
> > inlet ducts - assuming that the return air would find a way back via
> > gaps around the doors. *Bad design that, just to keep the costs down.
>
> > David *
>
> Easily solvable though, with louvre style grills in doors
>
> NT- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Not good in a fire that idea.

On Mon, 30 May 2011 21:58:12 +0100, David J <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:


>I bought a new house in 1970 that had a warm air CH system, originally
>oil-fired, from a central distibution storage tank. There was no gas
>in the small town at the time. The downstairs ducts were all under the
>suspended floor. When town gas was supplied about 10 years later,
>most of my neighbours changed over to gas-fired boilers, and many also
>changed to radiators. I eventually bought a new gas-fired warm air
>boiler and retained the ducts. I found that they were perfectly
>effective - although I realised later that the original design was
>technically flawed.
>
>If you study a/c systems in hotel rooms, you will see both inlet and
>outlet ducts for good circulation. Our builder had installed only
>inlet ducts - assuming that the return air would find a way back via
>gaps around the doors. Bad design that, just to keep the costs down.
>

Our 1972 Wimpey house (so presumably centrally specified) had flow and
return vents (The *big* return vent) in the through lounge, but all
the rooms upstairs had a couple of inches removed from the lights over
the upstairs doors to create an unimpeded path back to the big vent in
the lounge. It had no adverse aspects.

Derek G